A cache of clandestine audio recordings has surfaced, revealing former President Joe Biden’s apparent struggles with memory issues and cognitive decline.

These tapes, captured by the ghostwriter involved in crafting Biden’s 2017 book, “Promise Me, Dad,” were recently made public by Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, who began releasing the recordings Monday night.

The tapes prominently highlight instances of Biden grappling with recollection during the discussions.

In one noteworthy session, Biden was rendered speechless for several minutes, needing prompts from the ghostwriter, Marc Zwonitzer, to continue the conversation.

“It seems to me, there were three major issues at hand,” Zwonitzer remarked to Biden after a lengthy pause. “I believe Iraq, Central America, and Ukraine were consuming much of your time and focus.”

Biden, in response, muttered quietly and struggled to string together complete or decipherable sentences. His first audible response detailed a discussion with Kevin McCarthy, who ‘it looked like was going to be speaker, or … the number two guy.’ 

Biden then launched into a lengthy diatribe about energy infrastructure, while Zwonitzer listened on – at times, chiming in with specific dates or details to ostensibly aid the struggling lawmaker.

In another portion, Biden, prompted by Zwonitzer about a previous subject they discussed, struggled to remember any of the details or subjects discussed in the earlier sit-down. 

‘The next thing I have here is classified,’ Biden said at one point.

‘Some of this may be classified …’ Biden can be heard telling Zwonitzer in another discussion. 

‘It’s not marked classified, but …’ Biden said, his voice trailing off. No classified materials were published in the book, but the discussions, and the documents, were cited in an explosive 2024 special counsel report.

‘It’s confusing me,’ he said, before an assistant steered the conversation back on track. 

The audio comes as Republicans in Congress had pushed to make the tapes public after the Justice Department obtained them during a high-profile probe into Biden’s mishandling of classified documents when he served as Vice President and in the US Senate. The transcripts of the discussions were published in 2024, but audio had never before been shared in full.

The 2024 report, authored by former Special Counsel Robert Hur, stirred controversy around Biden when he questioned the ex-president’s diminished mental acuity and forgetfulness, leaving many to wonder what the attorney found in the tapes.

Hur decided against bringing charges against Biden for mishandling sensitive documents, in part, because he was a ‘sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.’ 

He also noted the former president’s ‘diminished faculties in advancing age.’

Hur said the evidence included a recorded conversation between Biden and his ghostwriter in which the former president stated that he had just ‘found all the classified stuff downstairs.’

Biden’s push to keep the tapes hidden ultimately failed in court due to ‘substantial’ public interest in the documents. 

The interviews were recorded at Biden’s home in 2016 and 2017 with author Marc Zwonitzer. 

They took place when Biden was vice president and before his 2020 campaign, and were meant to remain private, the former president’s legal team has argued.

Zwonitzer admitted to deleting the audio files during Hur’s investigation, claiming he was afraid of getting hacked. 

The conservative Heritage Foundation began a public disclosure legal battle with the Department of Justice to release the files in 2024 shortly after Hur’s report was published. 

Last week, Judge Florence Pan, a Biden-appointed judge, argued that the former president has shown ‘substantial’ interest in keeping the files private. 

‘The conversations at issue took place in Biden’s home, and the recordings of them were obtained by the government in the course of a criminal investigation that did not lead to an indictment,’ Judge Florence Pan wrote in her dissent. 

Judge Gregory Katsas, a Trump appointee, and Sri Srinivasan, an Obama appointee, ruled against the motion to keep the files hidden. 

The panel stayed an opinion until August 3, allowing further time for Biden’s legal team to appeal.

Biden announced earlier this month that he would be releasing another memoir titled Promise Me, America. It is expected to be published later this year.

A dramatic courtroom decision unfurled as a former U.S. Navy SEAL faced conviction for a thwarted scheme targeting law enforcement with explosives. This plot was intended to unfold during a “No Kings” rally in California but was dismantled thanks to a vigilant store clerk whose alertness alerted federal agents and changed the course of events.

Gregory Vandenberg, aged 49, saw the verdict handed down after a five-day legal examination. He was found guilty by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico on charges that included the transportation of explosives with lethal intent and the attempted importation of outlawed fireworks into California.

In a swift deliberation lasting approximately three hours, the jury delivered their unanimous verdict of guilt.

According to prosecutors, Vandenberg embarked on a journey from El Paso, Texas, to San Diego in advance of the June 14, 2025 protests. During his travels, he stopped at a roadside travel center near Lordsburg, New Mexico, where he acquired six mortar-style fireworks along with 72 M-150 explosive firecrackers.

While making the purchase, Vandenberg told a store clerk he intended to throw the explosives at law enforcement officers during the protests, federal authorities said.

He repeatedly asked about the amount of gunpowder in the fireworks, whether taping multiple mortars together would increase their explosive force and said he was interested only in their ability to injure officers, prosecutors said.

Vandenberg also encouraged the clerk to attend the protests and hand out fireworks to others, telling the employee he would not get hurt because of his military experience, according to trial testimony.

The conversation alarmed employees enough that they wrote down Vandenberg’s license plate and contacted law enforcement before he reached California.

Federal agents tracked Vandenberg to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, where he was arrested the following morning while sleeping inside his vehicle.

Prosecutors said he falsely claimed he was traveling for work despite being unemployed and later told investigators he was visiting friends in Phoenix.

A search of Vandenberg’s vehicle uncovered the fireworks along with clothing displaying antisemitic, anti-Israel and extremist imagery, according to prosecutors.

Among the items recovered were shirts bearing an Al-Qaeda flag, a shirt calling for the destruction of Judea, a hat featuring the Al-Qaeda flag and apparel displaying a variation of the Black Sun, a symbol associated with neo-Nazi ideology.

Jurors were also shown photographs of Vandenberg wearing a custom-made T-shirt bearing the word “AMALEK” while inside the travel center. Prosecutors said Vandenberg told investigators the word meant “destroyer of Jews.”

Investigators also discovered Vandenberg’s cellphone home screen displayed a Taliban flag. A forensic review of the phone uncovered what prosecutors described as violent extremist content, including antisemitic, anti-Israel and anti-U.S. material, as well as messages discussing the upcoming protests.

According to prosecutors, those messages suggested Vandenberg believed the U.S. government, including President Donald Trump, was controlled by Israel and Jewish people, evidence they argued helped establish his motive for targeting law enforcement officers.

“People in this country are free to hold their own beliefs and to express them peacefully,” Acting U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison said in a statement. “What they are not free to do is use explosives to threaten or terrorize others.”

Ellison added that Vandenberg “intended to turn explosives into a tool of intimidation,” and said the verdict “sends the message that attempts to substitute violence for expressing one’s opinion has no place in our communities and will be met with federal consequences.”

Vandenberg was later sentenced to 16 months in federal prison, where he remains in custody. Upon his release, he will serve one year of supervised release.

A petition bearing nearly 17,000 signatures is urging Mayor Zohran Mamdani to refrain from attending the upcoming 25th-anniversary events of the 9/11 attacks. Despite this significant opposition from the families of the victims, the mayor seemed to dismiss these concerns on Monday.

Mayor Mamdani faced questions about his intentions to participate in the commemorations for the nearly 3,000 lives lost during the September 11, 2001 attacks. The pressure to reconsider his attendance has been fueled by a growing petition on Change.org.

In response, Mamdani stated, “I will proudly honor the families, the survivors, the first responders forever impacted by that horrific terror attack, by standing alongside them at this year’s 9/11 commemoration — reaffirming that we will never forget the solemn day felt by all of us who call this city home, and frankly, by all of us who call this country home.”

The petition was initiated by Giovianni Galante, who tragically lost his wife, Grace Catherine Galante, in the al-Qaeda attacks on the World Trade Center. According to reports, since its creation last week, this online appeal has gathered at least 16,889 signatures.

Galante expressed his concerns by highlighting several issues, including Mayor Mamdani’s hesitance to denounce the term “globalize the intifada” and his connections with individuals like Ramzi Kassem, the mayor’s chief counsel, who previously defended Ahmed al-Darbi, an al-Qaeda operative linked to a tanker bombing plot.

“This anniversary is one of remembrance grounded in shared American values: respect for the victims, recognition of the gravity of the attacks, and a clear rejection of the ideologies that contributed to such violence,” the petition reads.

First responder John Feal, who spent 11 weeks in the hospital as a result of the attacks, told The Post it was important that the families could peacefully grieve on the solemn 25th anniversary of losing their loved ones.

“If they’re gonna be upset by his presence, and that they’re not gonna get that day or a few hours to heal and to hear the loved one’s name without seeing his face, then I support that 100 %,” he said. “When you piss off and upset the 9/11 community, it’s a problem.”

Petitioners cited that many people feel Mamdani’s public positions and associations were “hostile” to their cause.

“Stay home, please. And ensure your wife does the same. That in itself would be a service to this city,” wrote one first responder by the name Debra with her sign-on to the appeal.

Another signee named Mark claimed he lost twelve friends in the attacks. 

“The current NYC mayor has not earned the privilege of being in the company of such magnificent Americans. Stay away, Mamdani,” he wrote. 

As the primary election day looms closer, the Democratic race for the U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota is heating up with unexpected intensity.

Peggy Flanagan, currently serving as Minnesota’s lieutenant governor, is gaining significant momentum bolstered by high-profile endorsements from progressive figures such as Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, alongside Representatives Ilhan Omar and Ro Khanna.

Nonetheless, Angie Craig, one of Flanagan’s primary adversaries, is determined to maintain her ground. During a debate hosted by Minnesota Public Radio on Monday, Craig candidly expressed her frustration over Flanagan’s perceived lack of responsibility regarding the state’s fraud crisis.

“The lieutenant governor, even as we sit here today, continues to take absolutely no accountability for any of the fraud issues, and she continues to blame the governor,” Craig stated emphatically on MPR, further confessing, “I’m going to be honest, it’s p***ing me off.”

Craig asserted her position by adding, “It p***es me off that you completely put all of the responsibility on the governor of Minnesota when you were the number two elected leader in Minnesota during that period of time,” intensifying her critique of Flanagan.

Flanagan claimed that Craig was using ‘Republican talking points’ in her attack. 

Craig also shared that ‘Republicans are dying to run against [Flanagan] because they believe that [she has] a unique vulnerability on fraud.’

While Governor Tim Walz has still not weighed in on the race, his wife Gwen Walz backed Craig on Monday.

‘In an era when everything we hold dear is at stake, we need a nominee who can win statewide—in red counties and blue. And that’s Angie … She has the savvy, the focus, and the work ethic necessary to get the job done and keep this seat blue,’ Gwen Walz shared in her endorsement.

Walz has been mired in a deepening scandal over scams involving state welfare, including payments to daycares and COVID-era loans. The majority of the defendants indicted so far come from the Somali community.

Prosecutors have said that at least 78 people connected with the Feeding Our Future program defrauded the federal government of up to $300 million, falsely claiming reimbursement for meals served to children during the COVID-19 pandemic, making it the largest pandemic relief fraud scheme in American history.

Instead, the defendants allegedly blew the stolen money on Lamborghinis, Porsche SUVs, beachfront property in Kenya, and private villas in the Maldives. The vast majority of those convicted are Somali.

US Attorney Joe Thompson announced in December of last year that investigators had uncovered around $9 billion in federal Medicaid funds stolen from 14 Minnesota programs since 2018. Eighty-two of the 92 defendants – charged across child nutrition, housing services and autism program scams – are Somali.

Minnesota’s US Senate seat is rated ‘likely Democratic’ by the Cook Political Report. 

A SurveyUSA poll from last week showed Craig and Flanagan in a tied race with 40 percent of likely primary voters backing each candidate.

Meanwhile, Manhattan prosecutors are poised to oppose any federal plea deal for Mangione if it risks disrupting his forthcoming New York murder trial, where he’s accused of killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare.

A freshly unveiled letter, examined by News Media, revealed that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is closely monitoring rumors about Mangione’s potential guilty plea in a separate federal case. They express concern that this plea might be completed before the state trial unfolds.

Prosecutors have signaled they might request that the presiding federal judge considers the implications of such a deal on New York’s judicial process before moving forward with it.

This development follows a federal court session in June, where U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett deferred Mangione’s federal trial until January 2027, thereby paving the way for his New York murder trial to take precedence.

Mangione, 28, has pleaded not guilty in both the state and federal cases stemming from the December 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was shot outside a Manhattan hotel as he headed to a conference.

“If a proposed federal guilty plea would operate to defeat a just outcome in the state prosecution, the People could advise the federal district court of that consequence, and the court should consider that fact in deciding whether to accept the plea,” Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann wrote in the July 2 letter.

Prosecutors added that the court should also consider any opposition from Thompson’s family before accepting such a plea.

The letter marks the clearest sign yet that Manhattan prosecutors are prepared to push back against any deal they believe could keep the state’s high-profile murder case from ever reaching a jury.

The DA’s office said it has already shared its position with federal prosecutors and Mangione’s defense team.

Prosecutors argued that any resolution should reflect “the seriousness of defendant’s offenses,” “the loss of an innocent life,” the impact on Thompson’s family and New York’s interest in prosecuting the homicide.

The dispute comes after reports surfaced in June that Mangione’s legal team and federal prosecutors had discussed a possible plea deal but failed to reach an agreement.

Mangione attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo blasted information attributed to anonymous sources at the time as “a troubling, deliberate pattern by prosecutors and law enforcement to prejudice Luigi.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York previously declined to comment on the reported negotiations.

At a June 29 hearing, Garnett delayed Mangione’s federal trial after concluding there was no practical way for his attorneys to prepare for two high-profile trials at the same time.

During that hearing, Agnifilo confirmed Mangione’s New York murder trial remained on track to begin Sept. 8 and said the defense had been told there would be no delays.

“We’ve been told that no requests for adjournments will be granted and to be ready on that date,” Agnifilo told the court.

The judge said there was simply no realistic way to move both cases forward at once.

“It’s simply impossible for us to be moving through the jury selection process in this case while the defendant and his counsel are fully occupied actually conducting the state trial,” the judge said. She rescheduled federal jury selection for Jan. 5, 2027, with opening statements set for Jan. 25.

Under the revised schedule, about 800 prospective jurors will complete written questionnaires in early December before in-person jury selection begins.

Manhattan prosecutors also argued New York should get the first opportunity to try Mangione because he was extradited there on the state case before he was later transferred into federal custody. Prosecutors argued that the transfer did not change New York’s priority to prosecute him first.

Prosecutors allege Mangione fled the city and was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.